


In a Galaxy Far, Far Away

by Strange_Archivist



Series: Everything, Every Things [13]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Gen, Good Parent Jim "Chief" Hopper, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 08:37:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13477737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strange_Archivist/pseuds/Strange_Archivist
Summary: The Party gets El to watch Star Wars for the first time and it doesn't quite go as planned.





	In a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Mike is so excited for El to watch Star Wars. He brings the movies over to the cabin one Saturday morning along with a whole slew of popcorn and candy.

“You’re gonna love it, El,” he insists while Dustin helps Lucas hook up the VCR and Max and Will pop the popcorn. Hopper had to pop into work this Saturday and had given them all a very stern “don’t blow the place up while I'm gone” talk. Dustin had pointed out that VCRs weren’t really known for their explosive properties and Hopper had chosen that moment to leave with an exaggerated eye roll in Dustin’s direction and a, “don’t be stupid, kid,” in El’s.

“Cool it Mike, you’re gonna give away the best parts,” Lucas says, looking up from the VCR.

“I’m not, I’m just, man, I wish I were watching them for the first time again.”

“You guys are such nerds,” Max says from the stove.

“Who’s the bigger nerd? Us nerds, or the nerd who hangs out with us?” Dustin says, finishing the VCR and helping Lucas to his feet.

Max groans. “I ask myself that question every day, Henderson.”

“Popcorn’s ready,” Will says. “Let’s start the movie!”

They all settle in and Mike’s grateful that they’re all watching the movie so intently so they don’t see him watching her for her reactions to the movie.

She seems to be enjoying it at first, but there’s a dark look on her face during the first Vader force-choke scene that he can’t read. When they watch the second movie, El seems decidedly uncomfortable, but he can’t figure why. When the credits roll and El says she needs to use the restroom, he doesn’t miss how watery her eyes look, or that she heads to her room, instead of the bathroom.

They all look around at each other quizzically.

“Told you not to put so much pressure on her to like it, Mike,” Dustin says.

“I don't think it's about that,” he says, unsure.

“Right, because no one can not like Star Wars,” Max says sarcastically.

“It's one thing to not like it, another to be upset by it,” Will pipes up. “She looked upset.”

Mike agrees. _But..._ “Why would it upset her?”

The rest of the party shrugs back at him.

Mike knocks softly on her door. “El?”

“No.” he hears her muffled reply.

“No?”

“Bad.”

“The movie was bad?”

No response.

“Told you she wouldn't like this dorky movie,” Max says from the couch.

“It's not dorky!” Dustin and Lucas shout at once while Will says, "YOU like this dorky movie."

Ignoring them, Mike turns back to the door. “El, at least let me in for a minute. You don't have to come back out, we don't have to watch the last movie, we don't-”

-there’s a loud click of her unlocking the door and Mike heads in.

The door shuts behind him before he can think to whether he wants to shut it or not.

She’s crumpled up in on herself on the bed, curls framing her tear-stained face and Mike feels his insides crumple at the sight of her.

“We don’t - we don’t have to keep watching the trilogy if you don’t like it, El,” he starts, kneeling on the floor beside her bed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t, we don’t always have to like the same things. I mean, I guess it’s not that great, I-”

“Mike,” she cuts him off, looking up at him. “It’s not… the movies… they aren’t bad. They… they make me think bad things. R-remember bad things.”

“Oh.” Beat. “Oh shit, I’m an idiot. I’m so sorry, El. Of course the bad guys would remind you of- of the bad people,” he finishes lamely. She never mentions _Papa_ and he doesn’t either.

Tears shoot down her face in greater earnest and her hands cover her face. She sobs like she’s breaking in half and Mike feels like he is too hearing her.

“Hey, hey, I’m sorry, it’s ok. The bad men can’t get you anymore. You’re safe.” More crying. “I mean, ok, friends don’t lie, but you’re _safer_ now and there are at least _fewer_ bad men so-”

“Because of me!” she wails, finally sitting up. “I killed them! I killed all of them! I’m bad!”

Mike’s mouth hangs open. It always seemed so obvious to him that their party plus Hopper and Mrs. Byers, Steve, Jonathan, and Nancy is the Rebel Legion and Hawkins Lab & Co. are the Empire, it had never occurred to him that anyone else could see it any different. Especially not El. El’s their Luke, or maybe their Leia. Certainly not their Vader.

“What? No, no way. That was self-defense.”

“I sq-squeezed their brains!”

“You were protecting us! They had guns! You knew they would use them! What was one of the first things you told me once you started to trust me? You showed me they had guns! You knew how dangerous they were!”

“I didn’t-I didn’t only hurt them.”

“What do you mean? Troy and his mouthbreather friend? They threw me off a cliff and got off with a broken arm and a sore butt. I think you did ok there.”

Her hands have come back up to cover her face and she’s wailing into them uncontrollably now.

There’s a knock at the door and Dustin’s voice shouts, “Hey guys, we’re gonna make some eggos to cheer you up, okay?”

“Okay!” Mike shouts back.

“Not Troy. Not… mouthbreathers. Others. In Chicago.”

That stops him cold for a moment. She hasn't talked much yet about her trip to Chicago to find her sister, and no one has had much desire to push her on it. But her unwillingness to talk about it has worried him and now he's wondering what could possibly be so bad as to have her in such a state.

She begins to tell him, in broken sentences and many tears, her voice cracking. Mike tries not to fill in gaps in her speaking, trying instead just to listen fully to her tale.

She finishes in another fit of sobs. “Kali showed me - dark side. I… I hurt people. And I liked it.”

He takes her hand. “Whoa, hey, that's not fair. You didn't kill the man who hurt your mom. You didn't kill in cold blood. You obviously didn't like it because you realized it wasn't right. You stopped.”

“Cold blood?”

“It's a phrase people use. It means, you didn't kill just because you could.”

“Oh.” Pause. “But, I liked being angry,” she says.

 _I bet_ , he thinks. But before he can respond, he hears muffled chatter and what is unmistakably Hopper's voice a few moments later right outside El's bedroom door.

“El, come on, kid, open up,” the chief says.

The lock clicks open and Hopper enters. Mike knows it's partly because he's still on the floor kneeling next to El's bed, but Hopper's looking more intimidating than usual to Mike. Possibly because he's still worried that Star Wars of all things broke the chief's adopted daughter. He's not sure why, but he feels like he should stop holding El's hand under Hopper's fierce glance, so he does.

“What happened, kid?” Hopper asks, coming to sit on the bed next to her.

When El seems unwilling to speak, Mike says, “Star Wars, um, scenes where they used the force upset her.”

“The Force?” Hopper asks.

“Um, it's sorta like El’s powers. But it's not bad!” he hastens to add, seeing Hopper's expression grow stormy. “It's like science. It's not bad unless it's used to do bad stuff-”

“And you didn't think that would upset her?”

“But she's not like the bad guys who use The Force-!”

“I am!” El bursts out. “I hurt people. I liked it. I used the Dark Side.”

Hopper looks to Mike for clarification. “The bad guys who use The Force, they use the dark side. They let fear, anger control them.”

The cop sighs heavily. “You're an idiot, Wheeler.”

“It's not his fault I'm bad,” El insists, sniffing.

“El, no, you're not bad, you're..." he looks back to Hopper. "I - she started saying something about hurting bad men in Chicago. Another girl with abilities who the lab also took and and did experiments on and stuff. She found her and her friends after seeing her mom. But they were hunting people who had worked at Hawkins lab and they tried to get El to kill a man who'd hurt her mom.”

Hopper scrubs his face with his hand. “I take it that since your boyfriend said ‘tried’ you didn't kill him?”

Mike colors, but El just shakes her head. “But I wanted to,” she says. “He - he hurt mama. Made her stuck inside her head.”

Hopper sighs again, his eyes nearly a million miles away, and Mike wonders what he's thinking. How much of this he already knew. “Yeah.”

“I was so mad.”

“I'm sure you were, kid.”

“I liked being angry.” She dissolves into tears again.

Hopper's gaze clears as he scoots closer to her and places a hand on her shoulder. “Look, kid, you got a right to be angry. More so than probably anyone I know. You're not bad for being angry. It's fair and normal to be angry about what you've been through. Being angry about it means you know you didn't deserve it. Cause you didn't kid, no one does. You're allowed to be angry.”

“But I hurt people.”

“Yeah, that's what you're not allowed to do. That's when you start crossing the line.”

“Then I'm bad. I killed those people from the lab.”

Hopper and Mike exchange a look.

“No. No kid, that was self-defense.” His hand on her shoulder reaches out to pull her into a one-armed hug and Mike instinctively backs away. “You knew they were gonna hurt you, maybe kill you and your friends.You did what you had to.”

El doesn't look convinced.

“Look, I've killed people. Long time ago, in the war. And I'm not gonna tell you you're ever really gonna feel okay about killing someone. And that's a good thing too, you know? It means you're a decent human being. It means you have empathy. It means you know right from wrong. You knew what was right from wrong in Chicago too and I'm - I'm proud of you for knowing and doing the right thing.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” He hugs her then, tightly, with both arms.

Mike inches for the door, feeling like he's intruding on a meaningful bonding moment, but El calls him back.

“Mike,” she says, pulling away from Hopper and wiping her nose, “I'm sorry I ruined the movie m-marathon.”

“It's okay, you don't have to apologize for anything. I'm the one who's sorry. I didn't think it would upset you. I didn't think you'd feel like the bad guys because it's-it seems so obvious to me that you're good.” He blushes, seeing Hopper catch his eye for a moment and remembering his calling Mike her boyfriend.

El doesn't seem to be paying attention to any of this though. She just looks up at him, her big, brown eyes wide. “Really?”

“Yeah, really. You're our Luke. Or our Yoda. Or maybe Leia. You're no Vader, that's for sure.”

She smiles.

“I saw Dustin working on what looked like some eggos with serious toppings in the kitchen, wanna come out and have some?” Hopper asks.

El nods and they exit her room.

“Sorry the movie upset you El,” Will says as they all help themselves to eggos.

“I'm ok now,” she says back.

“It's too bad you're not gonna see my favorite part in the trilogy, when Luke’s tempted-”

“Don't give it away!” Dustin shouts.

But Mike sees her expression change, like she's starting to believe that if Luke can be tempted, maybe she's not a monster for the things she's had to do or the mistakes she's made. He's stunned sometimes by how well Will can read people, and in this case, how well he's read El, someone he still barely knows. Mike smiles at his friend, grateful, and Will gives him a subtle thumbs up just behind his own plate of eggos.

“Can we watch the third one after our eggos?” El asks.

“Totally,” Dustin insists enthusiastically.

“Totally tubular,” Max and Lucas say together before dissolving into giggles.

It's dark by the time they've finished Return of the Jedi and cleaned up all the stray bits of popcorn around the house “cause we don't need mice,” Hopper had said, and Mike is saying goodbye to El on the front porch.

“So you liked the movies? For real?”

“Yes.”

“You see what I mean about Vader though, no way you're dark side.”

“Not Leia or Luke or Yoda though either,” she says.

“No,” he agrees. “You're like some awesome character no one's written yet.”

“How come Leia is the only girl?” she asks.

“She's not! There's uh, well there's also Mon Mothma.”

El crosses her arms. She doesn't look satisfied.

“Okay, but Leia is like literally the coolest character. She's super smart and a total badass.”

She bites her lip and looks back up at him shyly. They haven't kissed since the Snowball, but he'd be lying if he said he hadn't replayed the moment in his head about a million times since then, which he figures is probably really saying something considering it's only been a few weeks since then and Dustin’s teasing interrupted them on Christmas eve and... Mike is barely snapped out of his daze when she says, “Badass?”

He recovers quickly. “Yeah,” he says, biting his own bottom lip. “Like you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah,” Mike breathes. He's sure he's blushing like crazy, but he screws up his courage and presses his lips to hers. “Yeah, you,” he says when he pulls away. “You're amazing.”

She hugs him then.

“Night, El,” he says, when he pulls away.

“Night, Mike,” she says back.

He can't stop thinking later that night as he gets ready for bed, about El's point that Leia is pretty much the only woman in Star Wars. He'd never thought of it much before, but it seems so obvious now. Ever since his Ghostbusters Venkman/Winston flub, he's become aware of the lack of good characters that look like Lucas in films, a realization that also sort of churns his stomach uncomfortably.

He thinks about all the other movies and books he loves and how few girls there are in some of them. It's a shame, he thinks, considering how cool a character like El would be in a story. He has to admit Max and Nancy would make good characters too. And loathe as he may be to admit it, because he and Lucas do butt heads from time to time, the world could use a hell of a lot more Lucases in stories and movies too.

He's so grateful that he and Lucas and all their friends can even talk about Star Wars with El though, it seems unfair to ask the universe for more than just to have her back and their party all getting along. Still, maybe there'll be more movies in the future. Maybe one with more girls being just as awesome as Leia. Maybe one with a Lucas instead of a Han.

He dreams that night of a dark haired girl who becomes a Jedi knight. Her best friend has skin just as dark as Lucas's and they find a droid even sassier than R2-D2. It could happen, he figures. If not long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, then maybe someday, in their own galaxy.

**Author's Note:**

> So I think this has been done before, but I couldn't get the idea for this outta my head. I've been feeling relatively uninspired lately, so I figured I ought to run with the idea I did have. The result, I think, is meh, but if you read, I hope you enjoyed some! 
> 
> I admit that in the end, this also turned into a bit of a love letter for The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi which I unapologetically loved with fully one squillion hearts. Sorry, not sorry. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Thank you in advance for any feedback!


End file.
